Process of treating seaweed.



Patented October 4, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID M. BALOH, OF CORONADO, CALIFORNIA.

- PROCESS OF TREATING SEAWEED.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 771,760, dated October4, 1904. Application filed July 12 1902. Serial No. 115,330. (Nospecimens.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, DAVID M. BALOH, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Coronado, in the county of San Diego and State ofCalifornia, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in theTreatment of Fuci to Obtain Valuable Products, of which the following isa specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in the treatment of fuci orseaweed to obtain valuable products therefrom.

The large growing fuci of the Pacific coasts and seaweeds in general,though containing much combustible material, cannot be used as fuel intheir natural state for two reasons at least: First, when dried theseaweed will reabsorb moisture greedily, when of course they will notburn, and, second, however dry the seaweed may be, the large percentageof alkaline salts contained thereby makes their combustion at such atime feeble and imperfect. Again, seaweed in its natural state cannot beadvantageously utilized in commerce as a fertilizer: first, because itis very difficult to pulverize, compact, and get into a merchantablecondition, and, second, because the material when so treated is sohydroscopic that it speedily becomes moist, coherent, and lumpy.

To remove these difficulties and prepare the seaweed for utilization forpurposes stated above, I have invented and worked out the followingprocess.

The seaweed gathered from the beds where they grow or collected wherestranded are partially sun-dried. The time required for this operationdepends largely, of course, upon the locality and climate. On the sunnyPacific coasts, where for much of the year it is virtually rainless, asingle days exposure is ofttimes suificient for the removal of much ofthe moisture and superfluous weight of the weed. The

of sawdust.

perheated steam, by resistance-coils, by a current of hot air, which Iprefer, or in any other convenient manner. The best results are obtainedby employing a temperature of about 240 centigrade, gradually raised toabout 270 centigrade, and a temperature about 250 centigrade has beenfound to be quite suflicient for my purpose, although a highertemperature can be employed without detriment to the product. Theoperation is analogous to that employed in parching or roasting peanutsor coffee, the object being to modify, but not disintegrate or destroy,the organic matter contained in the seaweed. The product which I obtainin this manner is something entirely new and previously unknown eitherin art or in nature, and this product might best be described as anartificial saline humus, possessing many valuable properties and servingas a basis for at least three important articles of manufactureto wit,prepared fuels, special fertilizers, and potassium compounds. By thisparching process the nature of the material is entirely changed. Thelarge stems of the airdried fuci, which are tough, horny, and verydifiicult to pulverize, can now be disintegrated between the fingers,and the parched mass thus treated has ceased to be hydroscopic and isentirely suited to the purposes for whichI utilize it. The parchedmaterial is Withdrawn from the chambers and crushed between rollers orin a proper mill to about the fineness This operation is very speedy andrequires but little power, its object being to reduce the bulk of thehumus for the treatment thereof, as the material unground cannot soeasily be deprived of its soluble salts. The material in this state canbe marketed per .96 as a very cheap and efficient fertilizer, being richin potassium salts and containing calcium and magnesium both asphosphates and in combination with organic acids. The material alsocontains nitrogenous substances, which as they decompose yield ammoniaand other compounds of nitrogen to the soil. It

is also possible to mix this product with the various substancesrequired by certain crops in the manufacture of a number of specialfertilizers.

In order to convert the parched and pulverized seaweed into a preparedfuel, it is nec essary to remove the alkaline and other soluble saltspresent. I therefore work overthe pulverized material and moisten ituntil it is slightly coherent. Ithen pack-the moistened material intosuitable vats or percolators and lixiviate with either hot or coldwater. If the grinding has been so managed as to leave a granulatedproduct without much fine dust, the material in the percolator will berapidly exhausted. If the percolation is not sufficiently rapid, it maybe hastened by any of the well-known methods. The clear liquid from thepercolators is very rich in potassium salts, which may be recovered inany suitable manner. The exhausted material remaining in the percolatorsafter lixiviation still contains the mineral salts of the weed insolublein water. For certain grades of fuel these mineral salts are removed bytreatment with dilute acids or by any of well-known methods.

The fuel so treated Will yield scarcely any ash. The exhausted materialfrom the percolators, whether deprived of its mineral salts or not, isnow fitted for the manufacture of prepared fuel. For this purpose it isdried by sun or kiln heat, and when dried, if desirable, it is mixedwith any combustible material or used 2909" se. In either case it isground and thoroughly incorporated with some suitable binderas coal-tar,for instancein suflicient quantity to give it the required coherence.The mass is now compressed into blocks of suitable size and shape. Theseblocks are to be lightly furnaced for fuels of a certain grade. Byvarying the condition of the material and the pressure applied thereto Iam enabled to .obtaina fuel of the nature of wood, lignite, or coal. Theashes of this fuel are comparable with wood-ashes as a fertilizer.

It will be evident that changes might be made in the method herein setforth, and hence I do not wish to limit myself to the exact processherein set forth; but

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The process of treating seaweed consisting in parching the materialwithout burning or charring, granulating the parched material,

lixiviating the granulent material, drying the exhausted residue,commingling the residue with a suitable binder, and shaping the massinto suitable forms.

2. The process of treating seaweed consisting in parching the materialwithout burning or charring, granulating the parched material,moistening the granulent material, lixiviating the moistened material,drying the exhausted residue, commingling the exhausted residue with asuitable binder, and forming the mass into suitable shape.

3. The process of treating seaweed consisting in parching the materialwithout burning or charring, granulating the parched material,lixiviating the granulated material, drying lixiviating the granulentmaterial, drying the exhausted residue, commingling the residue with asuitable binder, forming the mass into suitable blocks and lightlyfurnacing the blocks.

6. The process of treating seaweed consisting in parching the materialwithout burning or charring, granulating the parched material,lixiviating the granulent material, drying the exhausted residue,removing the mineral salts from the exhausted residue, commingling theresidue with a suitable binder, forming the mass into suitable blocksand lightly furnacing the blocks.

7 The process of treating seaweed consisting in partially drying theseaweed, parching the dried seaweed without charring or burning,reducing the parched material, moisteningthe reduced material,lixiviating the moistened material, drying the exhausted residue,commingling the dried residue with a suitable binder, and condensing themass into suitable forms.

8. The process of treating seaweed consisting in parching the materialwithout charring or burning, reducing the parched material, lixiviatingthe reduced material, removing the mineral salts from the exhaustedmaterial, drying the exhausted residue, commingling the dried residuewith any suitable combustible material, commingling the mixture with asuitable binder, condensing the mass into suitable blocks and lightlyfurnacing the blocks.

9. The process of treating seaweed consisting in partially drying thematerial, parching the partially-dried material Without burning orcharring, reducing the parched material,

' lixiviating the reduced material, drying the exhausted residue,commingling the dried residue with any suitable binder, and condensingthe mass into suitable blocks.

10. The process of treating seaweed consisting in parching the materialwithout burning or charring, reducing the parched material, treating thereduced material with a sufficient quantity of water to dissolve thesoluble salts therein contained, evaporating the resulting solution todryness, drying the exhausted residue, commingling the dried residuewith a suitable binder, and forming the mass into suitable blocks foruse as fuel.

11. The process of treating seaweed consisting in parching the materialwithout bringing it into actual contact with the source of heat,lixiviating the parched material to remove the soluble salts, thelixiviation resulting in the production of a clear liquid and anexhausted residuum and treating the residuum to obtain a fuel.

12. The process of treating seaweed consisting in parching the materialwithout bringing it into actual contact with the source of heat,disintegrating the parched material, moistening the parched,disintegrated material, liX- iviating the material to remove the solublesalts, the lixiviation resulting in separating the parched groundmaterial into a clear liquid and an exhausted residue and treating theexhausted residue for the purpose of producing a fuel.

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my namethis 1st day of- July, 1902.

DAVID M. BALCH. Witnesses:

M. O. NICKELESON, G. E. HARPHAM.

